Strike of the Jade Syndicate
by Demon of Shadows
Summary: Set a few days after the movie ends.


(Disclaimer: I don't own Spider-Man or any affiliated crap. I do own Jade. Set three days after the movie.)  
  
  
  
  
  
Peter would never forget the day he met Felicia Hardy. It had been three days  
  
since he had attended the funeral of Norman Osborne a.k.a. Green Goblin, three days  
  
since he had refused Mary Jane Watson. He was in the gymnasium on the college  
  
campus, he had felt like taking a break from taking pictures of-well, himself sort of, and  
  
going to watch a basketball game. The game was going pretty badly for the home-team,  
  
they were losing 6-14. As the cheerleaders went out to start the half-time show, Peter's  
  
gaze locked onto the head cheerleader. It was like first seeing MJ all over again. Peter  
  
couldn't really describe the feeling. He could only watch in something between awe and  
  
fixation as she performed a series of stunning acrobatics. Inside, Peter knew he could do  
  
that and more as Spiderman. "Hey, Petey!" A familiar voice called out from below. Peter  
  
looked down in surprise. "Hey Scott." Peter said, grasped the offered hand in a firm  
  
handshake. Scott "Speedy" Nagle, star of the Track & Field team and one of Peter's  
  
better friends, took a seat beside Peter and followed his gaze. "I see you've sighted the  
  
charming Miss Felicia Hardy. I thought you were sweet on MJ." Scott said. Peter's  
  
embarrassed grin spoke volumes. Scott put a hand over his mouth in mock surprise and  
  
he said, "Is little Peter becoming a player?" He gave Peter a good-natured punch in the  
  
shoulder. "No.it's just that." Peter couldn't bring himself to tell Scott, he couldn't  
  
suddenly say, "I'm not going with either because I'm a vigilante superhero who has to  
  
kick criminal ass 24/7." Peter decided not to stay for the rest of the game, so he said his  
  
goodbyes to Scott and made his down the bleachers. He pushed out through the doors,  
  
headed for home.  
  
* * *  
  
Harry Osborne sat alone in his father's-no, HIS mansion. The servants had been  
  
given time off to mourn the passing of Norman Osborne. Harry forced himself to walk  
  
the halls, the halls where he had grown up as a child with a caring father. He was now the  
  
sole heir to his father's fortune, and his company. Harry entered his father's study, the  
  
first time he had done so since his father's death. He remembered the nights when he  
  
couldn't sleep or he had a bad dream, when he was only six or seven, he could come into  
  
the study to watch his father work, calculating numbers, writing memos, and doing the  
  
various operations required of him as the CEO of OsCorp. Then, he would sit in his  
  
father's lap and together they would read massive novels. Harry's favorite, he  
  
remembered, had been the stories of King Arthur, Excalibur, and the ancient lands. Harry  
  
smiled to himself as memories swirled around him like a tempest. "Master Harry?" An  
  
old, familiar voice came from behind Harry. "Henry, I thought I told you to take the day  
  
off." Harry said with a smile, turning to look at one of his closest friends in the world,  
  
Henry Morton. Henry had been his father's butler ever since Harry was an infant. They  
  
embraced gently, standing there for several seconds. "Henry, please ring Michael and  
  
have him bring the car around. Its time for me to take my place as CEO." Harry said,  
  
surprising even himself with his serious tone. "Yes, Master Harry." Henry said with a  
  
proud smile, he then went over to the small phone on the desk and spoke softly into it.  
  
"Michael will be waiting for you downstairs." Henry said. "Good, I will see you this  
  
evening." Harry said. He accepted the attaché case from Henry, it contained everything  
  
Harry would need, and headed downstairs and to the car.  
  
* * *  
  
It had been just over a week since Harry had started his duties at OsCorp. During  
  
that time, he had caught himself up in the various projects and departments of OsCorp.  
  
He now sat in the large office, poring through his father's old digital files and documents,  
  
until he came upon an interesting file that was buried within folders, sub- folders, and sub-  
  
sub folders, and so on and so forth. "Top Secret? Password Access Only?" Harry said to  
  
the empty office. Naturally, those words only piqued his interest, so he initiated a special  
  
code breaker program; it tested thousands of words against the programs. Finally, the  
  
code was broken with one word, 'Goblin'. "Odd thing for a password." Harry mumbled  
  
as he flipped through the file. His breath was torn from his body in a mighty gasp. It was  
  
all here. Schematics for the Wing Bomber, the Goblin Suit, Bombs, Razor Bats, all the  
  
mean little devices that the Green Goblin had employed as a crazed psycho. The truth hit  
  
Harry like a runaway train. "My father.was the Green Goblin." Harry uttered these  
  
five words, and then he seemed to collapse. When he found the will to look at the file  
  
again, there was another file that had escaped his previous notice, titled 'Spiderman'. He  
  
opened it, and again it was a massive shock. It was a series of profiles, on Spiderman and  
  
his connections. He scrolled through them, becoming increasingly surprised. "He's linked  
  
with May Parker, MJ, and Peter." Harry looked attentively at the Spider-Man file. At  
  
the bottom, it listed 'Peter Parker: Spider Man'. This was too much to bear, Spiderman,  
  
was Peter Parker? Harry slammed his hands against the desk edge. Finally, after what  
  
seemed like hours, but in reality it was about five minutes, he hit the intercom for his  
  
executive assistant. "Ms. Halloway, please tell the Special Projects Division Head that I  
  
would like to see him ASAP." Harry said. There was only one course of action now, or so  
  
it seemed.  
  
* * *  
  
She crept through the upper halls of the 80-story high corporate skyscraper with  
  
the subtlety of a cat, which in fact, she was. She was Black Cat, Cat Burglar  
  
extraordinaire. She froze, hearing the muted footsteps of the security guard that patrolled  
  
the floor. She ducked into a doorway; she would have to move fast in order to not be  
  
caught. The third such building she'd burglarized this week, the high-tech technology  
  
firm that owned the building didn't put much money into their locks. Extracting a pair of  
  
lockpicks from one of her suits many concealed pockets, she inserted them into the lock  
  
and after a few seconds, the lock clicked open. Like a shadow, she swept into the office  
  
and relocked the door from the inside. She glanced around, her expert gaze finding the  
  
concealed safe in a mere twenty seconds. People were so predictable, hiding their safes  
  
behind cabinets and paintings. She slid aside a painting on concealed tracks in the wall,  
  
exposing a fair-sized safe with a computerized lock. She removed a small device about  
  
the size of a calculator from another hidden pocket. She extended a thin cable from the  
  
side and inserted it into the keypad. The device contained a program that tried thousands  
  
of numeric combinations, getting the combination in a matter of seconds. With a muted  
  
beep, the light above the keypad changed from red to green and the safe hissed open. She  
  
inserted one arm into the safe, sweeping the contents into a black pouch- like bag, which  
  
she attached to her belt. She shut the safe and replaced the device in her pocket before  
  
replacing the painting where it was. She exited the office, right into the arms of the guard.  
  
With split-second reflexes, she nailed him perfectly in the groin with her boot while  
  
pressing a nerve on the side of his neck. "Nighty night." She said sweetly as the guard  
  
lapsed into unconsciousness. She turned the corner, looking for more offices to burgle.  
  
The next hallway had offices on one side, but only one door on the other. She went to the  
  
single door, examining it quizzically. It had no doorknob, just a small black plastic sign  
  
in the center of the door. It read, 'Authorized Personnel Only! Access Granted only to  
  
those with Angel/0A clearance or above. Unauthorized entrance will be met with strict  
  
force.' "Well, if this isn't an oddity. If there is no knob, why put up a sign restricting  
  
access? Unless." She traced her fingertips over the impressions of the letters. She  
  
pressed the A in Access and the G in Granted, and the door slid open. She strolled into  
  
the secure room, and suddenly froze. Before her, shrouded completely in black, stood a  
  
tall man. A glint brought her attention to his right leather-gloved hand. The light coming  
  
through the window glinted again off the casing of the silver pocket watch. With a click,  
  
he hit the button on top of the watch, glancing at the face only briefly. He clicked the  
  
cover shut and started tossing it up and catching it again. "17 seconds from seeing the  
  
door to getting inside. Not at all up to your usual par, Black Cat." He said, his teeth  
  
flashing in the low light. "Who might you be?" Black Cat, placing her white- gloved  
  
hands on her hips. "Simply a fellow thief. You may call me. Jade." His sinister tones  
  
emphasized the name perfectly. "Ok, JADE, why are you here?" Black Cat said,  
  
beginning to become annoyed by this weirdo. "To relay a message from my employer.  
  
Beware the Goblin." Jade said. "Wait-" Jade suddenly hit a button on a tiny control in his  
  
other hand and alarms started wailing all over the place. Jade turned towards the window  
  
and charged straight at it. The window exploded outward with Jade. He fell for three  
  
stories before his long black trenchcoat fluttered away and a parachute blossomed out  
  
from seemingly nowhere. He glided down to the street, right towards the top of a white  
  
panel truck with the AT & T logo on the side. The top split down the middle and the roof  
  
opened upwards, admitting Jade into its shadowed recesses. Even before he had his chute  
  
pulled in and the roof hatch shut, the truck started moving. It turned the corner at one end  
  
of the street while NYPD cars and a SWAT truck turned the corner at the other end.  
  
Black Cat watched all of this in awe, before she pulled herself together. She removed a  
  
bulky device from her belt and aimed it at the adjoining building. Pulling the trigger, a  
  
thin, ultra-strong grappler cable shot out of the device, affixing itself to the building. She  
  
swung in a perfect arc to the other building, scaling the fire escape to the roof. "Well, this  
  
is a new one. What are you supposed to be?" A voice said from behind her. She turned to  
  
run, but she was quickly subdued by Spiderman's webbing. "Wait! There was this other  
  
guy!" Black Cat said. Spiderman, least to say, seemed a bit curious. "Who, your partner  
  
in crime?" Spiderman said, stepping closer. "No, this weirdo calling himself Jade. He  
  
said to beware the Goblin, but that guy's dead." Black Cat said. "Maybe, maybe not."  
  
Spiderman said.  
  
(To Be Continued) 


End file.
